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Halloween Extravaganza 2006
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby is a classic lesson in suspense. The pace, paranoia and helplessness of the heroine are all perfectly combined to deliver one of those movies that simultaneously sucks you in and frustrates you. Maybe it's the writing, or Polansky's skill as a director, but this is one of those movies that you're glad they never remade (knock on wood). The movie begins with the Woodhouses, a young couple, touring an apartment they're interested in renting. Sure it costs a bit more, but the wife, Rosemary, thinks it is
worth the money, and just the place to start making babies. The husband is a bit skeptical, but it is a nice place and with the new part he just got, they should be able to afford it just fine. But even from the beginning you know something is wrong. The apartment was previously occupied by a famous female lawyer who suddenly dropped dead one day. And that's odd, why is there a huge chest blocking the closet door? Was she trying to keep something out?
Nah, she was probably just old and crazy, you know, one of those people who keeps a ton of cats and watches Fox news all day. So the Woodhosues decide to move in and celebrate by redecorating the place. Rosemary even makes a new friend one day while doing laundry. A young woman who lives with their neighbors, the castevets. She tells Rosemary about how nice the castevets are and how they rescued her from the streets, cleaned her up, and take really good care of her. They even gave her this necklace that has some sort of stinky herbs inside for good luck.
Those castevets sure are nice people. They even drop in from time to time to check up on Rosemary. After all, they're a bit old and lonely, so Rosemary can forgive the fact that they're a bit obnoxious. After all, old people can be a bit annoying at times.
Everything is just idyllic. But then, one night while returning home, Rosemary and her husband come across a grizzly scene. It seems that the young girl the castevets took in decided to kill herself from jumping out the window. Both the Woodhouses and the castevets explain to the police that she was a nice girl, but she must have gotten back on the drugs.
The castevets are visibly shaken, and Minnie, the wife, starts turning her attention to Rosemary. They even invite them over for dinner. The husband is torn because he lost a big part that day that could have made his acting career, but they go out of courtesy. The husband is taken in by Roman, the old man, who has some really crazy stories about the world. It seems he's travelled everywhere and done some wild things in his life. Minnie, on the other hand, is just obnoxious- the overbearing, over caring type whose help is more of a nuisance than anything.
But as time goes on, Rosemary's husband starts spending more and more time with Roman. It turns out, he's one heck of a guy. Why, the castevets even bring them some dessert on the night they plan on conceiving their first child. Nothing gets you in the mood like some chocolate mousse.
That mousse sure looks good, but it kind of tastes funny. Rosemary is also shocked when her husband throws a fit and makes her finish the whole thing. Well, it's the 60s and Rosemary does as her husband tells her. That's one thing abou this movie, the guy marries a hot woman who might be a bit irritating as the movie goes on, but she is always there to fix him a sandwich no matter what time it is. I'm not saying it's right, or that women aren't equal, but at sandwich on demand? Anyways, before I start getting the hate mail, let's get on with the story.
Rosemary eats the dessert and boy does she have some really strange dreams that night. She dreams that she's naked and tied to a bed, surrounded by a bunch of other old naked people. Even her husband and the castevets are there.
And who is that guy with the yellow eyes forcing himself on her? What a wild dream, and you can bet that Rosemary has one hell of a hangover the next morning. But Rosemary quickly forgets the trauma because some cool stuff starts to happen. Her husband ends up getting that part he was so depressed about losing. It turns out the guy who got it went blind, what a stroke of fortune for the young couple. And Rosemary has some news of her own, she's going to have a baby. That's what she's been wanting this whole time. Her husband and the castevets couldn't be happier. The
castevets even recommend their own doctor, why he's very exclusive and they won't take no for an answer.
And boy is Rosemary pregnant. The morning sickness is out of this world. Minnie tries to help by supplying her with fresh vitamin shakes each day, and she even gives Rosemary a necklace with some Tannis root in it. Actually, everything has Tannis root in it. It's some stinky herb that brings luck and health, that's why it stinks so much; it's good for you. Even her new doctor wears it.
As time goes on, Rosemary starts getting concerned. She keeps losing weight and the pain just doesn't stop. Her doctor tells her that it takes time, but she's not getting any better. To make matters worse, Minnie won't leave her alone and her husband is always gone now that all the good parts are finally coming his way. He's even talking about moving to Hollywood because things are going so well. Rosemary is miserable and she is relived when her good friend tells her that she looks like total crap. Her new haircut is bad, she's too pale, too thin, and she stinks. Oh, that's just the tannis root. The what? Your neighbors are who? That's odd. Well, her friend leaves, but phones later and urges her to meet him the next day. Rosemary's husband
is concerned and doesn't want her to go, but Rosemary insists. She's just been isolated for too long, besides it will do her good.
Well, her friend doesn't make it the next day. When he fails to show up, Rosemary gets worried and calls. Well, he's not at home and he's actually not alive anymore. Rosemary is sick and starting to suspect that something is really going wrong, but there's nothing she can put her finger on. Her doctor says she will be fine, her husband says not to worry and the castevets are just as nice as can be. Luckily, Minnie runs into Rosemary on the street and takes her back home. A pregnant woman just shouldn't be out, not with the news that her friend just died.
Rosemary keeps getting sicker and sicker and is lonelier than ever. Her only friend is dead, they don't see their old friends anymore, and she keeps eating raw animal entrails.
It's definitely not what Rosemary pictured pregnancy to be like. But she's going to do something about it. She decides to throw a party and won't take no for an answer. They don't see their old friends anymore and there is no reason they need to only hang out with the castevets and their geriatric friends all the time. It will do them some good.
On the day of the party, Rosemary goes all out. Shrimp, cocktails, and plenty to go around for everyone. She even gets all dressed up for the occasion.
The party is well attended and everyone is having a great time drinking, smoking and just being 60s hipsters. The only problem is that everyone keeps telling Rosemary that she looks like complete hell. Rosemary finally breaks and explains the constant pain, the sickness, but that's normal, right? Well, not so much it turns out. Rosemary's friends tell her that maybe she should see another doctor. After all,
nobody should be in that kind of pain, it's just not natural.
In the meantime, Rosemary also learns that her friend has left her some books that he found interesting. Turns out, they're all about witches and the occult. There's even a strange message inscribed on the book reading "the name is an anagram." Well, that's interesting. It's also interesting that this root she has to wear and drink is also known as devil's pepper. I think a better name for something that smelled that bad would be ass weed, but I digress.
The message refers to some guy named Adrian Marcato who was apparently a real devil worshipping kind of guy back in the day. But his name doesn't spell anything remotely meaningful. So Rosemary keeps reading and reading until she finds that he had a son named Steven. Could this be the guy her friend was referring to? His name is underlined too.
With the help of some Scrabble tiles, Rosemary gets back to work trying to sort this all out. Well, you guessed it, the name is an anagram and it spells Roman Castevet. But could Roman be the son of a satanist and would that explain why they're making her wear the devil's pepper? It could just be random chance, after all, the anagram could spell out all kinds of things.
Her husband thinks she's being an irrational woman who needs to be man-handled, the doctor doesn't think it's strange and even suggests that Rosemary not drink that stuff if she's worried. The baby is fine, the pain stopped and she is going to have a healthy baby. She just needs to relax and focus on her health, that's all. And that whole thing about Mr. Castevet being the son of a satanist? Well, no wonder he changed his name, wouldn't you?
To placate her, both the doctor and her husband agree the help her out. The Castevets leave town for a while and everything looks like it's going to be fine. only, the Castevets show up again and now Rosemary is convinced there's a plot against her. She tries escaping to her old doctor, but he just calls her husband. The next thing you know, she's in labor and they're trying everything they can to save the baby. When Rosemary comes to, she learns that she lost the baby.
Rosemary is bed ridden and being watched over constantly. She can't be alone for a second and a nurse comes in to pump her breast milk, feed her and give her some serious sedatives. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Rosemary becomes suspicious again. She swears she hears a baby, and why are they so concerned with her breast milk if the baby died?
As her suspicion grows, she starts hiding the medication and ventures out of bed. She swears she hears something going on in the Castevets apartment and it's coming from her closet. Turns out the closet that the last tenant was blocking with the giant chest connects to the Castevets apartment.
Rosemary decides it's time to really kick some ass. They took her baby, they made her think she lost it, but that's enough. She wants her baby back. Arming herself with a knife, Rosemary heads back to the Castevet's apartment.
Rosemary enters the Castevets apartment only to find there's a cocktail party going on, and to make matters worse, nobody is surprised to see her. "Is that the mother," one party goer asks to which someone responds that it is. Everyone is curious about her, but nobody really reacts all that strongly.
Then Rosemary notices the crib in the corner. It's shrouded in black. She approaches and tells everyone to stand back. But what did these maniacs do to her baby? What did you do to its eyes? It has its father's eyes, they respond. Yep, the father was Satan and this little bugger is going to really grow up to be the anti-christ. Hail Satan!
Understandably, Rosemary is freaking, but everyone else is jubilant. They don't really understand why she's so upset. Sure, they drugged her and let the Devil rape her, but aside from that, she should show some gratitude. After all, the Devil did choose her out of all the other girls. So why not give us a hand and be a real mother to this child?
Even her husband is supportive of the idea. He explains that they said she wouldn't be hurt, and she really wasn't. After all, wouldn't it have been the same if she had lost the baby? See, no harm done. Besides, these nice satanists helped boost his career. It was a real win-win all around. The movie then ends when the baby starts crying. Rosemary can't let her son cry, so she heads over to the crib, starts rocking the baby, and smiles as she gazes upon her new son.
The party goers then crowd around and look on with pride as she mothers her abomination of a son. I guess the movie ends with an optimistic note as Rosemary tries to make the best of a bad situation. It doesn't really matter because it's the build up that counts in this movie. I think she explains it best when she visits her old doctor- conspiracies do happen, so why can't one happen to me.
Overall, this movie is great and if you haven't seen it, you won't be disappointed even after reading this review (even if you thought this review was disappointing). I guess it goes to show that you don't need special effects or cheap gags to make a horror movie. Instead some old fashioned talent and story telling are all it takes to make a first class creepy movie.
-Mark
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